Kristin Reynolds, PhD, Founder and Director, Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab
Kristin Reynolds (she/her) is a critical food geographer based in New York City, with research focus in the US and France. Her scholarship and activism focus on informing the creation of socially just food systems in urban and rural spaces.
Her first book Beyond the Kale: Urban Agriculture and Social Justice Activism in New York City, (2016; University of Georgia Press, with co-author N. Cohen), examines and highlights the work of people of color and women to create more socially just systems, and the possibilities for scholarship to support such initiatives. Her second book Radical Food Geographies: Power, Knowledge, and Resistance (2024; Bristol University Press, with co-editors Colleen Hammelman and Charles Z. Levkoe) presents critical and action-oriented approaches to addressing food systems inequities across places, spaces, and scales.
As Chair and Associate Professor of Food Studies at The New School, Kristin teaches about global food systems, social justice, urban agriculture, and food policy. From 2013-2022, she taught on social justice in the global food system at Yale School of the Environment, where she is now an Affiliated Faculty at the Yale Center for Environmental Justice. She is also an associate research fellow at the European School of Political and Social Sciences in Lille, France.
Kristin has worked with many community-based nonprofit organizations and small-scale farms through her research, teaching, and consulting, which have informed her founding and directing the Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab at The New School. These include the New York City-wide Farm School NYC; Corbin Hill Food Project; Brooklyn Grange rooftop farms in Queens and Manhattan; La Finca del Sur in the South Bronx; EcoStation:NY, BK Farmyards, and Hattie Carthan Community Garden in Brooklyn; and Harlem Grown in Manhattan; as well as Soul Fire Farm in upstate New York, where she served on the founding Board of Directors from 2015-2020; the national Food Chain Workers Alliance and HEAL Food Alliance. She has led and collaborated on curriculum design at several institutions of higher education, including for a first-of-its-kind associate in science degree program in Food Studies at Hostos Community College (a part of the City University of New York and located in the South Bronx). She has served on the Board of Directors of the Levitt Foundation since 2014, and is currently Board President.
Kristin holds a Ph.D. in Geography and M.S. in International Agricultural Development from the University of California, Davis, and bachelor’s degrees in International Soil and Crop Sciences and French Language and Literature from Colorado State University. She has lived and worked on numerous farms in the United States and Europe.
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-kristin-reynolds-20893a57/
Monika Golakoti, M.A., Manager, Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab
Sree Sushma 'Monika' Golakoti is the Lab Manager for the Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab (FJAR Lab), combining technical expertise with a commitment to social justice. Monika also serves as Lab Manager and Researcher at The SexTech Lab, overseeing projects on gender, sexuality, technology, and society. Beyond The New School, Monika is an Adjunct Lecturer at The City College of New York and Borough of Manhattan Community College, integrating psychology and technology in teaching.
With a Master of Arts in General Psychology and a Bachelor of Technology in Computer Science, Monika’s experience spans academia, research, and administration. Passionate about interdisciplinary collaboration, Monika works to bridge disciplines, amplify marginalized voices, and harness technology for meaningful societal impact.
Kyndal Coleman, M.S. Candidate, Public Engagement Fellow, Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab
Kyndal Coleman is a Public Engagement Fellow and an Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management master’s student at The New School from Villa Rica, Georgia. Kyndal received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Economics and Management from the University of Georgia where her involvement with community organizing sparked an interest in scholar-activism. As a master’s student, Kyndal’s academic interests center on bridging the gap between policy, activism, research and everyday people,